Barrichello sorry to miss out on points

The Brazilian staked his claim for a contract renewal with a solid performance after a difficult qualifying.

Barrichello finished in 11th place, five positions ahead of teammate Jenson Button, but was still disappointed at his failure to get into the point-scoring positions.

"It was a better race today than some of our recent races but it is disappointing not to have been able to get into the points," said Barrichello.

"I had a great start and first lap where I overtook three cars to move up to 10th and went flat out for the whole race to try and make up some ground on the people ahead.

"However our finishing position in 11th is reflective of what the car is capable of and we have to be pleased with making the best out of the package that we have available whilst still being disappointed not to score any points."

Button had a day to forget as he struggled with his car for most of the race. He finished a lap down in 16th.

"The race today was more exciting than the last couple of races have been at least and I had some fun overtaking Sutil and Nakajima into the hairpin at the start," he said. "From then I really struggled with the car and from being stuck behind Coulthard for much of the race.

"After my final pitstop I had a clear stint on the option tyre and the car balance felt reasonable, but I had very poor traction and corner apex understeer. So overall a frustrating race as I wasn't able to find out my true pace on the prime tyre in clean air."